Despite Everything
by Extreme Light 9
Summary: They may had their differences, but they were there for each other, in their own way.
1. Proud

**Chapter 1 – Proud**

 **A/N: Hey everyone! It's been a while since I wrote an Inside Out fanfic and I'm really excited to start this one!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inside Out.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

Fear slowly opened his eyes and sat up from his bed, feeling a little thirsty. He glanced across the room to Anger's bed and was confused when he saw it was empty, but he soon remembered that his roommate had Dream Duty tonight.

Sighing, he stood up and made his way out of the bedroom to get something to drink. Fear could tell the dream had already started from the bright blue glow that was coming from the main room. After walking down the short hallway, Fear reached the exit door and was surprised when he saw the red emotion wasn't alone.

Sadness was sitting on the couch watching the dream with Anger who was standing in front of the console.

Confused, Fear made his way towards them. "Hey guys,"

"Oh hi Fear," Sadness said.

"Hey," Anger muttered.

"What are doing here Sadness? I thought you and Joy went to sleep in your bedroom." he asked.

"I couldn't sleep so I came here and Anger let me stay with him." She answered quietly.

"Oh okay, how's the dream Anger?"

"Fine," Anger said apathetically without looking at him.

Fear's face flattered, not expecting that response. Talking to Anger was always hard for Fear and their interactions often ended either on an awkward note or with small guy setting him on fire.

Fear cleared his throat. "Well, I should be going now." He said awkwardly and quickly hurried to the kitchen. He filled a glass with water and took a sip from it.

He suddenly caught snippets of a conversation nearby and stepped closer to the doorway to hear it.

"Hey Anger, can I ask you something?" it sounded like Sadness.

"Sure, kid." Anger answered. Fear inched closer to the door and peeked at them.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Do you….hate Fear?" she asked and Fear stiffened at the question.

"Why do you ask?" the red emotion didn't sound angry, just confused.

Sadness pulled the neck of her sweater nervously and looked down. "I-I always noticed how you treat him differently from us, but I can't understand why."

The purple emotion knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping, knew this conversation wasn't meant for him to hear, but his curiosity got the best of him. He wanted to hear what his colleague will say.

Anger huffed. "Well, he's a big wimp who can't stand up for himself and afraid of almost everything."

Fear flinched at the words. He already expected that answer. He and Anger never really got along and he knew the red emotion didn't like him very much. But still, hearing Anger say it so bluntly stung him. Sighing dejectedly, Fear was about to back away from the door and stop listening when Anger suddenly continued.

"But he does a good job at protecting our girl and keeping her from danger which is something I really appreciate. Not to mention he's so resilient and no matter how many times I knock him down he never fights back and just stands up again. I admit it, I can be rash sometimes and he stopped me from making some poor decisions before like when I wanted to hit that kid who shoved us this morning."

"So no, I don't really hate him. In fact sometimes I found myself proud of the beanpole, but don't you go tell him I said that!" He stated warningly.

Sadness quickly shook her head. "No, I won't." she said with small smile and Anger's face softened again.

Fear meanwhile just stood there, trying to absorb what he heard. He couldn't believe Anger thought of him like that. Did he really mean it?

Despite the confusion he felt, Fear could also feel relief and warmth fill him, knowing that his colleague didn't hate him like he always thought.

Smiling softly, Fear set the glass down and quietly slipped back to their bedroom.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of this with a review!**


	2. Doubts and fears

**Chapter 2 – Doubts and fears**

 **A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. Here's chapter two.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Anger knew he wasn't the most observant emotion in headquarters, but he could tell that something was off about Fear.

It all started after Riley left math class that morning. Fear kept a certain distance from the console and would always hesitate to use it. There were times when he looked like he wanted to say something or give a suggestion, but then he'd stop himself and back away.

Anger didn't think much of it at the time and shrugged it off.

"Hey Riley, we're gonna have a sleepover tonight at my house. Wanna come?" one of her friends asked.

"Sure, I'll ask my parents once I'm home," Riley said eagerly without any hesitation.

Back at HQ, Joy was a bouncing ball of energy. "Yay, a sleepover! It's gonna be great guys, I just know it! There's gonna be pizza and movies and pillow fights and- _I'm so excited!_ " she exclaimed loudly.

Fear hummed in response, but didn't say anything.

"Fear, are you okay?" Sadness asked.

Fear was taken aback by the question and stammered. "W-What, of course I'm okay! Why would you asked?"

The blue emotion looked down at her feet. "I don't know. Normally, you'll start panicking and fretting whenever something like this came up,"

"She's right, Fear. Is something wrong?" Joy asked in concern.

Everyone had their attention on him and he squirmed under their gazes. "N-No, I'm fine guys really. It's just a sleepover. Nothing dangerous or life-threatening about it. We should focus on how much fun we're gonna have instead of what could go wrong in it,"

Disgust gasped. "Who are you and what have you done with Fear!?" she said sarcastically, but Joy ignored her.

"That's the spirit, Fear! I'm proud of you." She said and gave him a quick hug.

Fear chuckled nervously and then excused himself to go sit on the couch. Anger raised an eye brow at the odd behavior of his colleague. That didn't sound like a thing Fear would say. Something was wrong, he could tell, but what?

Deciding to confront him about it, Anger made his way to the couch and stood in front of Fear. "Alright spill it, what's with you today?" he asked, crossing his arms firmly.

Fear flinched. "N-Nothing! I told you I'm fine!"

" _Don't lie!_ I hate it when people lie to me!" Anger growled, eyes blazing.

Fear jerked back and curled up on himself, whimpering quietly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The girls somehow were too engrossed in what they were doing at the console to hear what was happening.

Anger sighed and rubbed his temples. _Calm down, getting mad won't help right now._ He thought and sat on the couch next to the purple emotion.

"Look, I'm just….worried, okay? You haven't been acting like yourself all day. You barely touched the console or4 said much when we asked you for suggestions. If this keeps up, then something bad might happen to Riley. Is that what you want?"

Fear eyes widen in horror. "No! Of course not!"

"Then tell me why you're acting like this," Anger stated.

Fear sighed in defeat, seeing no point in denying it anymore. "It's because of the dare,"

Anger clutched his fists at the mention of that incident. Just before class started, some of Riley's classmates dared her to do a prank on their math teacher. Fear panicked and touched the console, making Riley refuse. The other kids then began laughing at her and called her a coward. Anger and Sadness had to drive for the rest of the period.

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Anger asked in confusion.

"It's my fault they made fun of Riley. If-If I had just let her do the dare then maybe she won't be feeling so bad about herself right now," Fear explained, voice wavering.

Anger laid his back against the couch, watching Joy and Disgust as they argued about something at the console. "Listen, Beanpole. I'm not gonna tell you how to do your job. Tell me, what made you stop Riley from accepting the dare?"

"B-Because it could have gotten us in trouble. We could have gotten detention or worse." Fear answered timidly.

"Then why are you doubting that you made the right choice now?"

Fear frowned. "If I had really made the right choice then why did everything turn out like this?"

Anger scowled. "Because those kids are jerks and their idea of fun is us doing something that might get us in trouble!"

Fear sighed and looked down at his feet. "I'm just afraid that I will mess up again and upset everyone. I don't want Riley to be unhappy," he said, sniffling.

Anger rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, unsure of what to say. He was never good at these kind of things, but seeing how sad his colleague was he knew had to do something about it.

Slowly, Anger reached out and placed a hand on his back, giving him a few comforting pats. "Fear, nobody's mad at you for what happened. We all know you did the right thing back there even if you don't think so. They even got worried when you stopped being your usual self."

Anger then gave him an assuring look. "And if something like this does happen again then we'll just deal with it, like we always do."

Fear took in everything his colleague said and slowly felt the doubts that clouded his mind fade away. "I guess you're right…..thanks Anger," Fear said, smiling at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get back out there," Anger muttered and gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

Fear rubbed the spot on his shoulder and chuckled sheepishly. "Right," he said as he followed his colleague to join the others.

Fear was no longer afraid of using the console.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. A Little Help

**Chapter 3 – A Little Help**

 **A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. Here's chapter three.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

Anger woke up to the sound of banging on their bedroom door. He also heard his roommate give a startled yelp at the sudden noise.

"Rise and shine, guys!" Joy said cheerfully from the other side of the door.

Anger groaned and buried his face into his slightly singed pillow. He hated being awoken this early and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but he knew the bubbly emotion will just come back to bother him again.

Sighing, he got up and hopped down the bed. He was only wearing a white shirt and blue boxers.

"Morning Anger," Fear said with a small smile. He was wearing his usual violet pajamas.

Anger grunted in response and began making his way to the wardrobe. He put on his pants and buttoned up his shirt, but then he realized his tie was nowhere to be seen. It took him a moment until he saw it hanging on top of the wardrobe.

Anger scratched his head in confusion. He remembered being so tired last night he tossed the tie without really caring where it landed.

Anger sighed and tried to think of a way to get it back.

"Need some help?" Fear asked while putting on his sweater, noticing the predicament his roommate was in.

"No, I don't." Anger huffed and then looked around until he spotted a chair. He brought it in front of the wardrobe and stood on top of it. He then tried to reach for the tie. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it and the red emotion found himself growing more and more frustrated with every failed attempt.

Just then, Anger felt a pair of hands get a tight hold of him and slowly lifted him into the air.

"H-Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Anger yelped in surprise.

"C'mon, reach for it," Fear said gently as he raised him high enough to get the tie.

Anger felt his face heat up in embarrassment. The stubborn side of him wanted him to protest and demand the beanpole to let him do it alone, but the red emotion knew he needed help as much as he hated to admit it.

Sighing in defeat, Anger reached for the tie. "There I have it, now put me down!"

"Alright, alright," the purple emotion said and put his colleague down.

Anger huffed and began walking away, putting his tie on. "I could've done it by myself you know," he said gruffly and then glanced at him. "But thanks anyway,"

Fear was taken aback by this, not expecting that response from the hotheaded emotion, but then he grinned at him. "N-No problem, Anger." He said sheepishly.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!**


	4. Bottled Up Inside

**Chapter 4 – Bottled Up Inside**

 **A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate it.**

 **Enjoy the new chapter!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

" _Look what you did, you moron. You got us benched!" Disgust shouted at him._

Anger gritted his teeth while pacing his room, recalling the fight he had with the green emotion.

" _It's not my fault. That kid pushed us first!" Anger snapped._

It was true, it wasn't his fault. The kid from the other team started it. He was just doing his job, making sure that nobody messed with their girl or mistreated her.

" _Yeah, but we could have ignored him and focused on the game. You just had to ruin everything like you always do you stupid brick!"_

Anger screwed his eyes shut and with all his strength kicked a nearby chair, hating just how _right_ she was.

Suddenly, light poured into the room and Anger looked back to see Fear and Sadness peeking through the door.

"What do you want?" Anger huffed.

"We heard noises coming from here so we came to check on you. Are you okay?" Sadness asked, standing timidly next to Fear.

"I'm fine, now leave me alone!" he snapped and turned his back on them.

Fear and Sadness shared worried looks with each other. "Let's give him some space, Sadness. We don't want to upset him even more. Besides, you're needed back at the console. Riley should feel sad right now." Fear stated.

"Okay," she said softly and he expected her to leave, but then she glanced up at him and whispered. "Talk to him,"

With that, the blue emotion made her out of the room leaving him with his own panicked thoughts. Talk to him? How was he supposed to do that?

Fear swallowed nervously and slowly walked over to Anger who made no sign of acknowledging he was there. "Uh, Anger?" he said, voice trembling. Why did Sadness think this was a good idea? Why did she ask him out of everybody to do this? She should be the one trying to comfort him.

Fear usually seeks comfort from others, not give it. Still he should at least try even though it could lead to him getting burned by the shorter emotion.

"I-I know you're probably upset over what happened earlier and I know it was really bad that we got benched, but still, it could've been worse, right? We could've fell down and broke a limp or got banned from the team or…" he grimaced, realizing his ramblings didn't seem to be doing any good. In fact, even though Anger wasn't facing him Fear could tell he was getting angrier.

Fear bit his lip anxiously and was about to speak again, but stopped when Anger turned to glare at him fiercely, fists shaking and heat rising from his head.

Fear stammered. "Anger, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean- I was just trying to- please don't be mad at me!" he pleaded.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself!" the red emotion finally shouted.

Heavy silence came after that. Fear stared at his co-worker in both shock and confusion. "But why?"

"Because I'm such a screw up! Disgust was right. All I do is ruin everything!" Anger growled.

"Anger, that's not true." Fear said.

"Don't deny it. I'm not like Joy or Sadness, I can't help Riley feel better. I just make everything worse." He shot back.

"But your job is to make sure that Riley is treated fairly. That's good, right?" Fear argued.

Anger glared at him. "Yeah, but when it comes to anything else I only end up doing more bad than good. I'm so dense I keep making the same mistakes over and over just like when we first came to San Francisco."

He then laughed bitterly. "And let's not forgot my _brilliant_ idea of running away from home. What was I thinking? Mom and Dad sold our old house. Where did I think we could go? Riley could have gotten lost or worse and it all would have been my fault!"

Anger then turned away and looked down at his feet. "How would that have been fair?" he murmured, barely audible, but Fear still heard it.

The two stood there in complete silence. Fear didn't know what to say. He never thought he'd see a strong and proud emotion like Anger acting this way. He was just always so confident and stubborn and seeing him like this felt wrong. He had to do something about it.

Slowly, he made his way to his colleague and knelt down, hesitating about touching him. Anger never liked physical contact, but Fear felt this was something he needed to do so he carefully placed his hand on his shoulder.

Anger tensed, but didn't try to push him away which Fear took as a good sign. "Anger, it's true you made some mistakes before, I'm not gonna lie. But so has everyone else. We all tend to go a little overboard when we think we know what's best for Riley."

Fear sighed. "I know I sometimes make her worry and panic over silly things like when I made her miss the puck during our last match because I thought it was coming too fast and would hurt us. And remember that time when we lost our first tooth?"

Despite how he was feeling, Anger snorted at the memory. "Yeah, you made a huge fuss about it. Kept saying we were gonna die."

Fear laughed, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Exactly. I ran around Headquarters screaming and panicking. I made you all and Riley worry about it, but when Mom and Dad told us it was a normal thing to happen and that we're gonna be okay, I felt like an idiot. You and Disgust teased me about it for days."

"What I'm trying to say is, just because you made a mistake or were wrong about something doesn't mean you're stupid or a failure. You just did what you thought you had to." Fear explained softly.

Anger considered what he said for a moment and then sighed. "Heh, when did you get so reasonable?" He said, his usual smirk slowly returning.

"I have my moments," Fear joked along, glad his colleague was back to his normal self.

Suddenly, the door was opened again and the two turned to see Joy beaming at them at the doorway. "Guys, come quick!" she said breathlessly.

Fear and Anger exchanged confused looks before hurrying after the star towards the console where Sadness and Disgust were. When Anger and Fear looked up at the screen they gasped in surprise.

"They did it. Our team won the game!" Joy exclaimed while Riley cheered for her teammates from her seat along with the crowd.

Anger watched as she went to her friends to enjoy their victory and couldn't help smiling at the sight.

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: I always thought Anger is a lot more insecure about his role in Riley's mind than he lets on. Out of the five emotions his influence is the one that causes more trouble. He tends to compares the results of his actions with his colleagues' and gets frustrated with himself.**

 **In the movie, Anger looked like he didn't care about the damage he was causing every time he touched the console, but I think he feels really bad about what he did. He just never shows it because it's in his nature to keep things bottled up.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!**


	5. Nightmare

**Chapter 5 – Nightmare**

 **A/N: Hey guys, thank you for your continued support. Here's chapter five.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Anger was sleeping soundly on his bed when suddenly he was awoken by a soft gasp. He grunted in annoyance and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, but then another sound followed it. A whimper, soft and almost muffled, but Anger still heard it.

Confused, Anger sat up and quickly rubbed his tired eyes before looking over to the other side of the room where his roommate's bed was. There was a huge lump underneath the covers and the muffled sobs seemed to be coming from it.

"Beanpole?" Anger hopped off his bed and made his way towards Fear's. Unsure of what to do, he grabbed the sheets and pulled them away to find Fear curled up on himself and shaking violently. His roommate tensed after being exposed, but he didn't move and his eyes stayed shut.

"Fear, what's wrong?" he asked, but Fear curled up even harder than before after hearing his voice.

Raising an eyebrow at this, Anger climbed on top of the bed and moved closer to his colleague to check on him. It was then he noticed that the purple emotion was clutching something in his arms. Upon closer inspection, Anger realized it was a tattered old teddy bear and immediately knew what happened.

"Was it another nightmare?" Anger asked.

Fear flinched, but nodded meekly.

Anger sighed. Fear would always hold that bear after a nightmare for comfort. While Anger tried to tolerate these night terrors most of the time, he sometimes couldn't help feeling irritated for being awoken by him.

But none of the previous nightmares were as bad as this one. Anger knew he wasn't good with comforting people and for a moment he considered getting Sadness, but he quickly dismissed the thought, not wanting to disturb her sleep.

Besides, Anger couldn't stand to see his colleague like this and he found himself reaching out and placing a hand on his back.

"It's alright, Fear. It was just a bad dream, okay? It can't hurt you." Anger said as gently as possible. He was then startled when Fear suddenly grabbed onto him and held him tightly, sniffling.

Anger knew he would normally be bother by this, but he allowed himself to be hugged, placing some gentle pats on his back.

Soon enough, the purple emotion stopped shaking and he pulled away from Anger, whipping his misty eyes. "S-Sorry for that and for waking you up." He said quietly.

Anger shrugged. "It's alright, you couldn't help it." He said, glad that he managed to calm him down. "So, you wanna tell me what that nightmare was about?" he asked, wanting to know what it was in the nightmare that spooked his colleague this badly.

"Oh," Fear lowered his head and stared at his own lap dejectedly. "It…..It was about the time when we tried to run away, when the console turned black." He answered and Anger's eyes widen.

"I-I dreamed that Joy and Sadness didn't come back, and that we c-couldn't save Riley from becoming emotionless…and after the last island was gone the ground began shaking and everything started falling apart around us." Fear said shakily. "Then the walls started crumbling down and we…we fell into the dumb…" he finished, his voice was almost a whisper at the end. The two of them stayed quiet after that.

This thought had crossed Anger's mind many times before and each time it always made him shudder. What if it was possible? What if headquarters fell down too? What would've happened to the rest of their world?

What would've happened to Riley?

Fear sighed. "I know that it's over and I know that everything's okay now, but…"

"But you can't stop thinking about what could've happened." Anger concluded and Fear nodded. "Well, you're not the only one. Sometimes, I can't help thinking about it too." He said, gazing up at the ceiling.

He then looked at Fear in the eye. "But that doesn't mean you should worry about what could've gone wrong forever. It won't do you any good. What matters right now is that we're all okay and we will NEVER do something like that again, right?"

Fear stared at him for a moment and then slowly nodded.

"Think you could back to sleep now?" Anger asked after a while.

"Y-Yeah, I think so." He said and gave him a small grateful smile. "Thank you,"

"It's nothing," Anger muttered before hopping down and making his way back to his own bed. He flopped down on the mattress and closed his eyes.

"Good night, Anger." Fear said suddenly. Anger glanced over to see his coworker slowly drifting off to sleep and felt his lips tug upwards.

"Good night, Fear."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought of this with a review!**


	6. Cheer Up

**Chapter 6 – Cheer Up**

 **A/N: Hey everyone, have some fluff to celebrate the winter season.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inside Out.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Fear sighed as he took a sip from his coffee. The last few days had been really stressful for him and the fact that he accidently gotten ink all over his favorite green sweater didn't help. So yeah, he wasn't in his best moods.

Right now he was sitting on the couch with Sadness, watching Joy and Disgust arguing over the console.

"No,"

"But Disgust-"

"I said no, Joy. We are NOT wearing that scarf again!" the green emotion said firmly.

"Why not?" Joy asked.

"Because we already wore it three time before. What will our friends think?" Disgust muttered.

"But it's really cute, c'mon!" Joy stated.

"If our friends see us wearing the same clothes over and over they'll think we're a loser with no taste and leave us!" Disgust huffed.

"That would be sad," Sadness murmured.

Joy then turned to him. "What about you, Fear?"

Fear sank in the couch a little for being dragged into the argument like that and squirmed under their gazes. "W-Well, I don't see a problem with wearing something different just for today," he said, sending an apologetic look to the golden emotion.

"Yes!" Disgust grinned while Joy groaned.

"Alright, fine," their leader said in defeat.

Disgust then twisted a knob making Riley dismiss the orange scarf and put on a purple one instead. The green emotion watched with a satisficed look on her face while the others shrugged. It kind of did look good on them.

It was then Fear noticed the absence of their red colleague. Now that Fear thought of it, he barely caught sight of Anger lately. The small guy would disappear for hours and always comes up with excuses whenever they asked him to do something with them, especially Fear. There were even times when Fear woke up at night to find Anger's bed empty, but he didn't know where he went.

What was Anger up to? Why was he spending so much time by himself? Was he…avoiding them?

Fear felt his stomach sink at the thought. No, that can't be true. Anger wouldn't do that, right? But now that the thought came it wouldn't leave the nervous emotion alone. Is this what it's really about? Anger just doesn't want to be around them anymore? Fear couldn't help feeling hurt by that. He thought the two of them were on better terms now.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

Later that night while they were heading to their bedroom, Fear finally managed to find the courage to talk to his coworker.

"H-Hey Anger, can I ask you something?" Fear spoke timidly.

Anger stopped and looked back at him. "What?"

"What have you been doing lately? We barely see you around." He asked.

Anger's eyes widen and then narrowed at him. "It's nothing,"

"But-"

"I said it's nothing. Now go to sleep," Anger cut him off and made his way inside their bedroom. He then began the process of undoing his tie.

"Are you avoiding us?"

Anger froze and glanced back at Fear in shock. The purple emotion looked really vulnerable at the moment.

"Look Anger, whatever it is I did I'm so sorry and I didn't mean it and-"

"Wait hold on, I never said I was avoiding you guys and you've done nothing to upset me," Anger said.

"Then what is this about?" Fear asked. It has to be something he did. Fear was the one who annoyed Anger the most or at least he thought he did.

"I'm…It's just…" Anger sighed and grabbed Fear's hand, taking him to his bed. He then went to his wardrobe and took out a box from there before making his way back to Fear.

"I was waiting for the right moment to give you this so I guess now is good a time as any," Anger said, passing the box to him.

Raising an eye brow in confusion, Fear opened the box and his eyes widen at what he found inside. It was a dark blue sweater with a purple line going through the middle. He gave Anger a puzzled look.

Anger rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You looked pretty down after you thrown away that old sweater so…I thought about making you a new one," he finished awkwardly.

Fear hesitantly took out the sweater and examined it. He could tell it was made by an amateur. The thought of Anger going through the trouble of making this just for him was enough to throw Fear off. He couldn't imagine the effort his coworker must have put into it. "I…I don't know what to say,"

"Just put it on already, will ya?" Anger said gruffly.

Fear quickly took off the sweater he was wearing and put on the one Anger made for him, feeling immediately snug. It was warm and inviting. He felt really comfortable in it. "It's great, Anger," he stated, smiling at him.

Anger awkwardly looked away from him for a moment before hesitantly glancing up at him again. "You…You really like it?" he sounded so self-conscious when he said that and Fear quickly nodded to assure him.

"I love it. Thank you, Anger."

Anger relaxed after hearing that and smiled. "It's no big deal. Just don't go and tell anybody I made it for you. Don't want them to think I'm going soft," he said warningly with his arms crossed.

Fear grinned and nodded. "Of course,"

Ever since then, Fear started wearing that blue sweater often and it was slowly becoming his favorite one. Anger would always look flustered whenever he saw him wearing it though, much to the girls' confusion.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: One of my dear reader had said that it was great to have a fic where Anger and Fear get along like this.**

 **Well, if Joy and Sadness, who are polar opposites can get along then why not Anger and Fear too?**

 **Anyway, please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts about this.**


	7. Late Night

**Chapter 7 – Late Night**

 **A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the wait, but I was busy with exams so I had no time to write this chapter.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

"Great job today, guys!" Joy said as she sent all the memories they made to Long Term.

Fear smiled as he went down through his notes on everything that happened today and what they should worry about tomorrow.

"Fear?"

Fear immediately jumped back at the sudden voice, dropping his notebook on the floor.

"Sorry," Joy giggled.

"I-It's fine, did you want something?" he stuttered as he picked up his notebook.

"Yeah, it's your turn to do Dream Duty tonight, remember?" she answered.

"Oh right, sure Joy." Fear muttered reluctantly.

"Goodnight," She said, flashing him one last smile before following the others to her bedroom.

Fear sighed and began making his way to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. The purple nerve knew Dream Duty was part of their job, knew they all had to do it, but that doesn't change the fact that he hate it. How could Joy find fun in those dreams was beyond him.

He was suddenly snapped from his thoughts by the sound coming from coffee maker. He quickly filled his mug with the hot beverage before making his way back to the console room, already knowing this was going to be a long night.

He sat down in front of the console and watched as the dream began to unfold.

 _Riley was back in class, doodling quietly on her notebook when the teacher suddenly spoke._

" _Riley, would you mind solving the problem on the board?" her teacher asked._

 _Feeling everyone's eyes on her, the girl stiffly stood up and slowly began making her way to the board. The equation somehow took up the entire board and Riley gulped as she stared at the seemingly endless rows of numbers._

 _Just as she was about to try solving it, the numbers suddenly jumped out of the board and piled on top of Riley._

Fear took a sip from his mug and sighed, unimpressed. It wasn't by far the worst dream yet, but it wasn't remotely good either.

 _And this was just the beginning!_

Suddenly, Fear heard the sound of footsteps behind him and looked back to see it was his red colleague. "Anger, what are you doing here?" he asked, confused.

"Couldn't sleep," Anger said simply, hopping on the couch and looking up at the screen. "How's the dream?"

"Boring," Fear shrugged and Anger rolled his eyes.

"And here I was hoping to find something good on." He sighed before looking at his friend. "Do you have anything to pass the time?"

Fear tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment until an idea soon hit him. He quickly turned a knob on the console to lower the volume of the screen and stood up. "Wait here, I'll be right back!" he said before hurrying towards their bedroom.

Anger raised an eye brow, but decided to wait and see what the other was planning. Soon enough, Fear came back and stopped in front of Anger, eagerly showing him what he brought.

A chess board.

Anger stared at the item in his hands for a moment and then back at him. "Are you serious?"

Fear's face flattered a little. He had really thought it was a good idea. He and Sadness would play chess whenever they had time and he always had fun. He tried to get Joy to play with him once, but she got bored half way through the game. As for Disgust, she had declined without giving it a chance.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind," he answered timidly

"Ugh, fine. Let's play." Anger groaned. Fear grinned again and quickly set the board on the floor, wasting no time in setting the pieces. Anger watched the purple nerve in boredom with his head on his palm.

"What color will you be, black or white?" Fear asked once he was done.

"Black," Anger said plainly.

"Alright, let's begin," Fear smiled and made the first move.

 _Twenty minutes later._

"Checkmate!" Fear said, folding his arms proudly.

"What!?" Anger stared at the chessboard, baffled. How!? There's no way he could've lost so easily. "You just got lucky! Let's play again."

"Alright," Fear shrugged.

 _Thirty minutes later._

"Annnnd that's checkmate," Fear said, claiming victory once again.

Anger clutched his fists and glared at the board angrily. He couldn't believe he had been beaten twice in a row. He tried challenging Fear again, but the result was still the same.

"I'm really starting to think you're cheating in this," Anger said, eyeing Fear suspiciously.

"How could someone cheat at chess?" Fear asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know, but you could be!" Anger growled and crossed his arms, glaring at the floor in frustration.

Fear frowned. "You know, we could play something else if you want-"

"No, let's keep playing." Anger said stubbornly. Fear sighed. He knew that look, the one Anger has when his mind was set on something and he won't stop until he goes through with it.

"Fine," he said and the two began played again. Fear noticed how much his friend was focusing on the game this time and how he would hesitate a lot whenever he had to choose a piece.

Fear was about to make the move that'll insure his victory, but stopped when he noticed the tired, defeated look on Anger's face. Frowning sympathetically, Fear quickly changed his mind and moved a different piece. "Your turn,"

Anger blinked in confusion and slowly moved his pawn forward. They went on like this for a few minutes until Anger finally managed to capture Fear's king.

"I….I won?" Anger said in disbelieve. It took a moment until the realization finally sunk in and a huge grin appeared on his face. "I won! Checkmate, ha-ha! I knew I could beat you!" he exclaimed.

"Well, you weren't wrong." Fear played along, but he felt warmth fill him at seeing his friend so happy. "Do you still wanna play some more?" he asked with a raised brow.

Anger blinked at him. "Uhh…..nope, not really. How about we just watch the rest of the dream, huh?" he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Fear chuckled. "Sure, Anger."

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!**


	8. Bed Ridden

**Chapter 8 – Bed Ridden**

 **A/N: Hey everyone, this will probably be the only chapter I'll post until New Year.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Inside Out.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Fear rolled over in his bed and opened his eyes groggily, feeling a steady pounding in his head. He massaged his temples and then glanced over to see he was alone in the room. Anger must have woke up before he did which was strange since Fear is the ones who usually wakes up first.

Rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, Fear reached for the alarm clock and gasped.

 **7: 10**

"No, no, no. I overslept. Riley will be heading to school soon!" Fear muttered in panic and quickly hopped off his bed. Just then, the room spun around him for a moment and he felt dizzy and nauseous all of a sudden.

Wasting no time, the purple nerve changed his clothes as fast as he could and put on his shoes before scrambling to the console room though his movements were kind of sluggish, much to his confusion.

"Finally, nice for you to join us, sleepyhead." Disgust said once she saw him approaching.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be late!" Fear replied frantically. "Did something happen? Are we hurt? How bad is the damage?"

Joy smiled and walked over to him. "Fear relax, we're fine and you're not that late- whoa!" the star gasped when she got a closer look at him. The other three glanced at them and wore the same expression of shock she had.

"What wrong?" Fear asked anxiously, shifting uncomfortably under their gazes.

"What's wrong!? You look like someone threw you into a wringer!" Disgust exclaimed and passed him her makeup mirror. Fear took one look at himself and shuddered at how awful he looked.

He was really pale. His eyes were blood-shot and glassy and there were dark rings around them. The nerve looked at his own his hands to see the purple particles that made up his body were a bit grey.

"W-What's happening to me!?" Fear stuttered.

"I think you're sick." Sadness said. Everyone turned to her and she quickly pulled up the neck of her sweater to hide herself. "Sorry, I just thought-"

"No, Sadness. I think you're right." Joy stated, scratching her head in puzzlement. "It's just been so long since I've seen one of us get sick."

An emotion getting sick was a very rare occurrence in headquarters and the last time it happened was over four years ago.

"This isn't contagious, is it?" The green emotion asked with a shudder, backing away a little.

Sadness shook her head. "No, it's not. But he shouldn't do anything other than rest or his condition will get worse."

"What!? I can't do that. What about Riley? She needs my guidance!" Fear exclaimed. He suddenly noticed Riley approaching the stairs and quickly went to press a button, but the console didn't shine as bright as it should have.

Riley felt a little nervous as she looked down the stairs and felt the urge to move more cautiously, but it was gone as soon as it came. She shrugged and continued on like nothing happened.

"What just happened?" Fear asked, baffled.

"You're too weak right now to use the console." Sadness explained.

Fear's hair-like antenna drooped in disappointment, but he refused to give up and started pressing buttons desperately.

Joy frowned in concern. "Fear?"

"No, wait. I think it'll work this time!"

"Fear!" his leader pulled him away from the console and made him look at her in the eye. "Maybe you should listen to Sadness and go get some rest. We're gonna take care of everything while you're gone." Joy said reassuringly.

"B-But Joy!"

"No buts!" Anger, who had been quiet until now finally stepped in. "You're going back to our room right now!"

The red brick got a hold of Fear's arm and glanced at Joy. "You guys take care of Riley while I'll make sure he gets some actual rest." He said before dragging Fear back to their room.

"Anger please, I should be helping back there!" Fear cried out.

"What's the point? The console won't work for you. Now lay down." Anger muttered as he took him to his bed. Fear flopped down on the mattress and sighed.

As much as he hated it, Fear knew it was true. He would be useless to them there. Also, now that he wasn't fretting and worrying about their safety, he could feel the fatigue and nausea he had been trying to ignore come back to hit him once again. His head ached and his chest felt heavy.

Seeing how tired his friend was, Anger sighed and rubbed the back of his head, trying to think of a way to make him feel better. Well, sometimes whenever they were sick Mom would make them soup. _Maybe that will help him too._

"Hey, I'll be gone for a few minutes. Don't go anywhere, okay?" Anger said, narrowing his eyes at him warningly. Fear grinned nervously and nodded.

With that, Anger turned around and left the room. He then made his way to the kitchen and looked around, trying to remember where they put all the soup cans. Soon enough, he spotted them inside the cabinet, but the problem was that it was way, _way_ out of his reach.

Being here always made him feel tiny compared to everything else in this room.

"I'm not short, everything here is just too big." Anger huffed and brought a chair, climbing on top of it. He then tried to reach for the cabinet even going as far as standing on his tiptoes.

"C'mon…almost there….." he muttered.

Suddenly, Anger lost his balance and fell off the chair, landing on his back with a grunt. Anger growled and gritted his teeth, smoke rising from his head.

 _I'm not short, I'm not short, I'M NOT SHO-_

"Anger, what are you doing here?"

Anger's head whipped over to see his leader standing in the doorway, looking at him while he lay on the floor in confusion.

Feeling his face heat up, Anger quickly sat up. "Nothing! I wasn't doing anything."

Confused, Joy glanced up at the open cabinet and then back at Anger, realization flashing in her blue eyes. "Oh, did you want that? Let me get it for you." She smiled, reaching for it.

"No wait, I don't need your-"

"Here you go," she said kindly as she offered him the can.

Anger groaned and snatched it away with a reluctant "Thanks" before waddling away to find a pot.

"What are you planning to do with it?" she asked curiously.

"I….I was gonna make some soup for Beanpole. Thought it might help him." He answered awkwardly.

"Really!? Can I help you?" she asked, rubbing her hands together.

"Shouldn't you be in the console room?" Anger asked with a raised brow.

Joy shrugged. "Eh, Riley's in math class. I'm not needed there."

"Fine," Anger sighed.

With joy's help, Anger managed to finish a lot sooner than he expected and right now he was on his back to his bedroom carrying a tray with a hot bowl of soup. The continent smile on his immediately vanished when he spotted Fear sneaking out of their room.

"Beanpole!" he yelled, startling the purple emotion.

Fear stammered. "An-Anger...I was just-"

"What do you think you're doing? I thought I told you to stay in bed!" Anger muttered furiously, leading him back to inside and placing the tray on the nightstand. He then crossed his arms and glared at his coworker who flinched and lowered his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, Anger. I...I just can't stop worrying about Riley. What if something bad happens and I'm not there to keep her safe?"

"She's in class right now, Beanpole. What could happen?"

"A lot of bad things could happen! She could get a paper cut or choke on an eraser or fall off the chair or-"

"Alright, that's enough." Anger raised his hand to cut him off. "If something does go wrong then the others will tell us so don't worry about it. Now here, I made you some soup." He said as he placed the tray on Fear's lap.

Fear looked surprised. "O-Oh, thanks Anger!" He replied, smiling gratefully as he took the spoon and began eating.

"No problem." Anger shrugged. Once he was done, Fear spent the next two hours reading some of the books he had to pass the time and keep his mind off the console. Anger was right. Worrying about what could happen in his absence won't do him any good.

Fear then began to wonder how long will it take for him to get better. He hoped it won't be long. He let out a soft yawn and flipped through another page.

Later, Anger came back to find his colleague sleeping soundly on his bed with a book in his hands. Smiling a little, Anger slowly took the book from him, careful not to wake him up and pulled the blanket over his friend.

 _Get well soon, okay?_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. Forgiven

**Chapter 9 – Forgiven**

 **A/N: Hey everyone. Thank you so much for your continued support.**

 **Heads up, there's angst in this chapter. Also feels, lots of them.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

Anger and Fear were in their shared bedroom, trying to decide a better spot for the new table.

"Hey, I think it would look great here!" Fear said as he gestured to the space next to the bookshelf.

"I think you're right," Anger nodded as he went over and lifted the table from one side. Fear quickly rolled up his sleeves and went for the other side.

"Hold on, are you sure about this? I can move it by myself you know." Anger stated.

"Hey, I'm not that weak!" Fear huffed, a little offended.

"Whatever you say, Beanpole." Anger rolled his eyes in amusement. "On the count of three…one…two…three!"

Fear's eyes bulged at the unexpected weight of the table and his arms began shaking violently, but he didn't want to look weak in front of his roommate so he held on.

Finally, the two set the table down and Fear nearly collapsed on the floor, feeling winded. Anger just dusted his hands and placed them on his hips in satisfaction.

"Phew, not bad. Didn't think you had it in ya," Anger smirked.

Anger rarely gives out praise to anyone so having it directed at him filled the purple emotion with pride. "Thanks Anger." He said, messing with his bowtie sheepishly. "So, what do you think we should put on it?" he asked, but soon realized Anger wasn't listening to him. He was staring at him, eyes wide open.

Fear looked him up and down, concerned. "Anger? What's wrong?"

"What in the world is that?" Anger asked as he walked over and took Fear's arm, focusing on the dark mark near his elbow. It looked like a scar. How did he not notice it moments ago was beyond him.

Fear tensed when realized what he was talking about. "Oh that? It's nothing, really. Don't worry about it."

Anger scowled, feeling a spark of protectiveness within him. "How did this happen? Did somebody do this to you?"

"No, no...it's just… It's not a big deal, Anger. Let's forget about it." Fear stammered.

"No, it is a big deal if you got hurt. Why won't you tell me?" Anger pressed on. "Don't you trust me?"

"What? Of course I trust you Anger, but-"

"Then tell me where you got this." Anger said, clearly not planning on dropping the subject.

"I…I….can't…you don't…" Fear finally sighed in defeat. "It's…it's a burn mark."

Anger blinked at this. "A burn mark? Now where could you have gotten a -"

And just like that, everything clicked in his head. Anger felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice on him.

No.

 _NO!_

He couldn't mean…it can't be….

"I….I did this?" Anger murmured, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"A-Anger, Look…it was a long time ago. It doesn't hurt anymore," Fear said quickly with an uneasy smile, but Anger wasn't listening.

 _I did this._

Anger gulped as he stared at the burn mark. He recalled all those times when was a little too rough on his colleague, but never truly wondered if he was really okay afterwards.

And why? Because he was dense enough to think that there were no consequences? Because he thought nothing he ever did had any lasting damage?

He was such an idiot!

"Anger?" Fear said, snapping him from his thoughts.

"I….I gotta go," Anger muttered and turned around to leave the room.

"Anger, wait!"

But Anger was already gone.

 **XXXXXXXXX**

Anger had spent all day avoiding Fear. He looked for anything that he use to distract himself with. He buried himself in his newspaper, focusing on every detail and every line and every _word_. Anything to keep him from thinking about what happened this morning and the burn on-

Anger screwed his eyes shut and clutched the newspaper a little harder.

"Ow!"

His head whipped up to the screen to find that Riley had tripped in front of the school's exit. Luckily, she wasn't hurt, but two girls then walked past Riley and snickered at her.

Rage flooded his senses and Anger fully welcomed the feeling. Yes, get mad, _be angry_. It distracts him from the thoughts that plagued his mind. He quickly threw the newspaper aside and hopped off the couch, marching towards the console.

"Out of the way!" he glowered at his co-workers and raised his fist at the console, ready to give those punks a piece of his mind and-

" _A-Anger, Look…it was a long time ago. It doesn't hurt anymore!"_

Anger froze and his breathing hitched.

 _No, stop. Don't get mad. What if you hurt someone again? What if you hurt Fear again?_

Feeling the rage within him vanish, Anger just pressed a button, making Riley feel a small spark of irritation, but otherwise she dusted herself and began walking again.

"Wait…..that's it?" Disgust asked in disbelieve, breaking the silence that hung between all of them.

"Yes," Anger said before heading back to the couch and burying himself in the newspaper again.

"What's up with him?" Disgust asked Joy.

"I don't know. I never seen him like this before." She answered with a confused shrug.

Fear meanwhile turned from the girls to watch Anger. He knew what was bothering his coworker.

He just didn't know what to say to him.

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

Later that night, it was Anger's turn for Dream Duty. The red emotion barely registered any of the dream as his mind kept drifting back to the incident.

Anger recalled all those times where had been harsh on Fear and _unfair_ to him. The purple emotion had never laid a finger on him and yet Anger had no problem pushing him around and letting out his frustration on him. Thinking about it made Anger feel even worse about himself.

How could Fear still want anything to do with him after all of that?

 _Maybe….Maybe they'll be better off without me._

Anger looked down at the console and then around him. Someone like him didn't deserve to be in a place like this. Not after everything he done, not after all the damage he caused.

What if he started going back to his old ways? What if he ended up hurting someone in a fit of rage again and not just Fear, but Joy, Sadness and Disgust too?

He shuddered at the thought and quickly shook his head. The others will be a lot happier with him gone.

Having his mind made up, Anger stood up and gazed down at the console. He traced his hand over the smooth plastic and buttons, sighing sadly.

He'll miss this place. It was only home he had ever known, the one place that he belonged to and now he'll have to leave and never come back.

Anger found himself reaching out and pressing a button, watching as it glowed red for a moment before quickly fading.

He wanted to be _Anger_ …just one last time.

He then looked up at the screen and sighed dejectedly. Leaving Headquarters also means abandoning Riley as well. Anger had grown up with this kid and cared deeply about her. He always wanted the best for her and never liked seeing her being mistreated or ignored by others.

Anger knew that he messed up many times and caused a lot of trouble in the past, but….he hoped she appreciated the things he had done for her sake.

"Take care, kid." Anger said, feeling a dull ache in his chest as he turned around and began walking towards the memory shelves. On his way there, he glanced at the sleeping quarters where his friends were and felt a bang of guilt for leaving without saying goodbye, but he knew they'd try to stop him if he told them.

 _It's for the best_. Anger pressed the button on the floor and the recall tube appeared. There was no turning back now. Bracing himself, Anger closed his eyes and felt the rush of air as he was sucked upwards, leaving his home behind.

Soon enough, Anger landed into a bin of memory orbs in Long Term Memory after sliding through the tube. Wincing a little, Anger hopped off and looked around him. This was his first time here and he couldn't help gaping at the seemingly endless shelves and corridors of Long Term storage.

Sighing, Anger chose a random direction and began walking, not caring where he ended up. This was his home now. He will no longer be a danger.

No one will be hurt by him ever again.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Fear rolled over in his bed for what felt a like the hundredth time. He couldn't stop worrying over what happened today and about Anger. He had been so quiet and distant and the girls noticed, but they didn't know the reason why.

But Fear knew and he couldn't help feeling guilty about it. It was kind of his fault that all of this happened. He should have done a better job at concealing that burn mark from Anger. Everything had been fine between them lately, great even. If only Fear had been more careful then they wouldn't have ended up like this.

Sighing, Fear decided that he wasn't getting any sleep anytime soon tonight and sat up. He then glanced over at the door and bit his lip before hesitantly making his way towards it.

He had to talk to Anger. They can't go on like this. It's clear that this wasn't doing either of them any good. He just hoped he would listen to him.

Soon enough, he reached the main room, but Anger was nowhere to be seen. The chair was empty and dream was still being broadcasted. Raising an eyebrow, Fear was about to turn around to look somewhere else when he looked over to the memory shelf to see his co-worker standing beneath a recall tube.

Before he could say anything, Anger disappeared into the tube and Fear gasped in horror. He stood there for a minute shaking and unable to register what he just saw.

Once he finally regained control of his body, he immediately sprinted back to the sleeping quarters and began banging on Joy and Sadness' door.

"Joy? Joy, wake up! JOY!?" Fear yelled until the door was finally opened and a tired looking Joy greeted him. She was wearing her orange nightgown and rubbing her eyes.

"Fear, what's going on?" she asked.

" _Anger's gone!_ " Fear nearly screamed.

Her eyes widen. "What?"

"Hey, will you keep it down. I'm trying to sleep here." Disgust said as she walked out of her own room in her dark green nightgown. Sadness peeked from behind Joy curiously, wearing her light blue pajamas.

"It's Anger, he's gone guys!" Fear repeated.

"What are you talking about?" Disgust asked, confused.

Fear gulped. "I-I couldn't sleep so I went to the console room and I saw him get sucked into a recall tube." He explained shakily.

Joy quickly hurried to the main room followed by the others to see for herself, but they found no trace of their friend.

"Fear, are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, I know what I saw!" Fear answered.

"But why on earth will he do that?" Disgust asked. They all knew that Anger never left Headquarters before so why now and for what reason?

"Maybe he has somewhere to be. We can wait and ask him when he comes back." Joy stated optimistically.

"But…..what if it was sucked by accident, like what happened to you and Sadness?" Fear asked, a dreadful realization dawning him.

Sadness and Disgust shared unsettled looks and even Joy looked unsure.

"And what if gets lost and doesn't know how to get back. Anger never been to Long Term Memory before!" He continued.

"He's right." Sadness said.

"Well even if what you're saying is true, how are we supposed to find him?" Disgust asked, crossing her arms.

"By going the same way he did." Joy answered with a huge grin.

Disgust blinked and then her eyes widen. "No,"

"Disgust…"

"No, I'm not going through that thing. Think of what it'll do to my hair!" she exclaimed. "Why can't you three go look for him?"

"But we'll need all the help we can get," Sadness stated.

"Disgust, please we don't have much time," Fear muttered.

"Ugh, fine!" the green emotion groaned. The four of them took their places and Joy summoned the recall tube.

Disgust suddenly realized she was still in her nightgown. "Wait, I haven't changed my clothes yet-" but the last part was cut off by her scream as they were sucked into the tube. It wasn't long until they arrived at Long Term falling into the same bin of memories.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as last time." Joy smiled while Disgust had both her hands against her mouth, close to throwing up.

"J-Joy…get off…."

She looked down and gasped when realized she had fallen on top of Fear. "Sorry!" she exclaimed and quickly stood up. Fear gasped for air.

"It's okay," he wheezed before standing up as well. The four then looked around at their surroundings.

"Yeesh, how did you guys got out of this place the first time." Disgust asked.

"Sadness read the Mind Manuals. She knows the way around here." Joy stated and Sadness looked away shyly.

Wasting no time, the four began searching for their friend through the endless maze that is Long Term Memory. They spent about two hours looking around, even going as far as asking some Mind Workers if they saw him, but no matter where they looked they couldn't find any lead to where he was. They finally stopped when they reached a split path.

"This is taking forever. That brick better appreciate what we're doing for him." Disgust complained.

"I don't get it. Unless he wandered too far into Long Term then we should've found him by now." Fear said scratching his head, his chest growing heavy with worry.

"What if we don't find him? What will we do then?" Sadness whimpered, voicing out the thought that had crossed everyone's minds during the entire search.

Joy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey now, don't think like that. I'm sure we will find him eventually." She said with small smile. Someone had to stay positive after all.

Just then, Joy heard the sound of something crashing and a faint growl nearby. "Hey, did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah, I think it came from there." Fear said as they took the path on the right. They looked around the corner to find some Memories scattered on the ground, probably fallen from a shelf and Anger was standing there, rubbing his head with his eyes screwed shut in pain.

"Anger, there you are!" Joy exclaimed, smiling in relief.

The red emotion stopped what he was doing and turned to them with wide eyed. _No, no. This can't be happening. They shouldn't have found me!_

"Finally, you won't believe all the trouble we went through to find you," Disgust as they approached him, but then they were puzzled when he backed away from them.

Without a second thought, Anger bolted away, running as fast as he could.

"Hey, where are you going!?" Disgust shouted, but the red emotion didn't stop.

"Anger!" Fear called out.

"Oh no, not again." Joy muttered as she and Fear sprinted after their friend, immediately reminded of the time when she had chased after Sadness through Long Term hallways.

"Unbelievable," Disgust groaned before hurrying after them with Sadness.

Anger scrambled through a corridor, trying his best to steer away from some Memories on the ground and not trip over one.

"Anger, stop!" He dared to look back to the see Joy and Fear were catching up to him so he tried to run faster. He quickly took a left turn, but regretted that when he realized he reached a dead-end.

He turned around and huffed. "What do you guys want?"

Everyone were taken aback by this. "What? Anger, we looked all over for you. We were worried something bad happened to you," Joy said, surprised by his demeanor.

"Well, I'm fine so just go away and leave me alone." Anger muttered.

"Are you kidding me? We came all the way here to rescue you and that's what you got to say?" Disgust sneered. "Now is not the time to be stubborn and proud, brick-head!"

"I don't need rescuing. I came here because I wanted to," Anger said, crossing his arms apathetically. Everyone's eyes widen at this.

"But…..why?" Sadness asked, confused.

"That's none of your business." Anger snapped. He didn't want to sound so harsh, but he no choice if he wanted to convince them to leave him here.

Fear was at a loss of words and glanced at the girls to see they were just as lost and confused as he was. He then looked back Anger and sighed. "Guys, c-can you leave us for a few minutes? I'm gonna try to talk to him alone." He asked timidly.

"Um…sure, Fear." Joy said and the three walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

Fear gulped and slowly began approaching his friend. "Anger?"

The red emotion tensed, but kept his back turned on him.

"Anger c'mon, you don't really wanna stay here, right? Let's go home." He said with a weak smile.

"No,"

Fear balled his fists and asked helplessly. "Why not?"

"Because I'm a menace!" Anger finally snapped.

Fear blinked in realization. "Wait, so this is what all of this about? Anger, I told you that was in the past. It's doesn't matter anymore."

Anger's expression darkened. "You don't get it, do you? I'm a monster. I shouldn't be allowed to be in Headquarters after everything I did and not when I still could go back to rampaging again!"

Fear frowned in annoyance. "So you're planning on staying here for good? What about your job at Headquarters? What about Riley?"

Anger's stony face fell and he looked guilty for a moment, but then scowled again. "Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to get me to go back with you? You out of everybody should be happy that I'm gone!"

"W-Well, I'm not."

Anger froze and then growled. "Then you should be. I've been nothing, but awful to you. I've been hurting you for so long!"

"Yes and I forgave you for that, Anger." Fear shot back. "I still think of you as my friend. In fact there were times when I felt safer when you were around." he said, smiling at the last part.

" **WHAT!?"** Anger yelled in outrage and disbelief, making Fear flinch. "How could you say that? After everything I've done to you? I've been bullying for years, why would you feel safe around me!?"

"B-Because you're the toughest guy I know and if something goes wrong and we're in danger I know that you'll keep us all safe." Fear said softly.

Anger felt something inside him break. He clutched his fists and closed his eyes, feeling an unfamiliar wetness in them. "You…you idiot," he said, but his voice lacked any bite.

Fear walked over and wrapped his arms around his shorter colleague, holding him tightly.

"I'm sorry, Fear." Anger murmured, his shoulders shaking.

"It's alright," Fear whispered. They stayed like that for a few moments before they finally had to pull away. "So, are you ready to head back to the others?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, I guess." Anger said, rubbing his eyes.

The two made their way back to the girls who were patiently waiting for them. Fear explained to them how Anger ran away because he was ashamed of the way he used to treat him while leaving out some details. He didn't want them to worry about him. Anger then apologized for the way he acted towards them earlier and fortunately, the three understood and weren't upset with him.

The sky suddenly began to brighten, signaling that Riley was waking up. Sadness led them to the closest the station to ride the Train of Thought.

While Joy talked to the conductor, Anger and Sadness had a hard time climbing on because of their height so Fear and Disgust helped them up. Soon, everyone was on board and the train began its journey towards Headquarters.

Anger sat on a crate by the door, watching everything passing by, deep in thought.

Suddenly, Fear hopped next to him and nudged him playfully, but then shrank under his gaze, thinking he went too far.

Anger just smirked and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "It's alright, you nerd." He said, but felt warmth fill him as he watched the other smile awkwardly at him.

 **The End**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: I hope if they decide to make an Inside Out 2 that they focus on Anger and Fear's relationship. It can even be a subplot as long as they reach an understanding of each other like Sadness and Joy did.**

 **Anyway, this is the last chapter of this story. It actually turned out to be longer than I thought it would. Thanks for your great reviews and support. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.**

 **Now I would like to thank everyone who reviewed for Despite Everything.**

 **Kathita the Hedgehog**

 **Tripledent**

 **XxMoonlight AuraXx**

 **Platypusgirl27**

 **Cathy the Creeper**

 **TMNTGFKittySideKick01**

 **StarNerve**

 **HollyAnne1084**

 **And Coffee fueled Author**

 **Until next time!**


End file.
